Resort Real Estate and Rentals at Sugar Mountain — Attraction in Sugar Mountain

Absolutely terrible customer service. Would strongly recommend against.

I have been coming to Sugar Mountain almost yearly for over a decade, and decided that I would upgrade accommodations since I am now financially better off. They were quick to respond to my request for properties that were within my price range, and I selected a property that met the needs of my group. They were quick to accept my reservation for a week at the property with four days of ski rentals and lift tickets. A few weeks later, they called requesting payment, and we payed. This was just over three weeks from our arrival date, and where the trouble began.

The day after we made full payment, almost $2200, I received a phone call saying they had made a mistake with the discounting and that I needed to pay an additional $391 for the stay. When I mentioned that the quote that they emailed me, and the discussions since, were to the contrary, they told me it did not matter. I told them that I was not going to pay more than I originally agreed to, and that they needed to find a solution. I told her that I understand that human errors happen, but that I wasn't willing to pay more for their mistake. The young lady that was helping me offered to send me some other properties to consider while she worked with her manager, to which I agreed.

I looked over her email, found two properties I liked and forwarded them to my friends that were accompanying me on the trip to check out. A couple of hours later, the rental office sent me an email stating that they had felt the best thing to do was refund my money, as the issue was a "human error", using my phrasing to try to avoid owning up to their mistake. I immediately called, frustrated, and talked to the young lady who told me she would team with her manager, Jack, and call me back.

When Jack called me a few hours later, he was very defensive and only presented the same options that the email I had received earlier did. These options were additionally discounted, marginally, but they were still at the same price or higher that what I had already paid for, and I expressed to him my dissatisfaction. I didn't want additional discounts. I wanted what I had booked, what they had promised. As I was speaking, not yelling or cursing, Jack interrupted me and told me that he is sorry that they were unable to take care of me and to enjoy my stay somewhere else. He then hung up abruptly.

I have since booked with another rental option in Banner Elk. The process with them has been good so far, and I have never had a bad experience up here until this. I will also be reaching out to the Better Business Bureau concerning what essentially amounts to a bait and switch, as well as the owners of the rental property to inform them of the experience that I have received.

Also, I am still...

DO NOT RENT FROM RESORT REAL ESTATE AND RESORT. DO NOT RENT 177 Green Cove Rd in Sugar Mtn. in the SUMMER. The description is deceptive! There is not air conditioning in all of this house. There is a portable A/C unit(pictured below) to cool the expansive den and kitchen and one window unit for the master bedroom. The other two bedrooms have NO A/C. The worst was when I called Resort Real Estate, the lady who answered the main phone was rude and totally was trying to gaslight me. She tried to argue that the house did have A/C but when I told her that the 2 bedrooms did not, all she said was,"well, were you uncomfortable last night?" Not the point and totally an attempt to redirect. Both her and another employee told me they would speak to management about some sort of partial refund but I've never heard anything. They are truly deceptive and dishonest in my opinion. I used them once before and they cancelled on me for no reason a few weeks before my trip and offered no alternatives. I should have never given them a second chance.... If you are the owner of this house and reading this, you have a nice house. Find another management company! If they are dishonest with customers, they will be dishonest with you! Addendum: Good try, RRR, but your own response tells the truth. The female I spoke to after hours when we first checked in asked if I wanted her to check to see if there was another comparable house available, there was not. So yes, I did give you the chance to rectify the issue. The exact same thing occurred in 2021...guess what, no other comparable houses available. I see a trend here of having to accept the situation because you certainly gave us no choice. During the Grandfather Mtn Highland Games, most ideal rental property is already booked....and I'm not going to be happy when I have my 89 year old father without the air conditioning that was promised. By the way, I did tell your argumentative and rude employee the next day that I wasn't comfortable in the non air conditioned bedroom and she didn't offer any resolution--just another deceptive practice. All she did was offer to speak to her management(but we never heard a reply). In the heat of the summer, the "mountain breezes" of which you speak aren't always present and temperatures do reach uncomfortable levels. It reached close to 80 degrees the first evening(no, that is not comfortable). Moreover, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines gaslighting as "the act or practice of misleading someone especially for one's own advantage." You are definitely "practicing" it without shame. I see you continue to misrepresent this property. I rent houses there every summer and no other rental company advertises "air conditioning" without disclosing if it is not central air. In my opinion, you are a dishonest and...

We booked 4 nights at Skyleaf C23, which according to the listing sleeps 8 adults in 2 queen beds, 2 twin beds, and a sleeper sofa. There are 4 of us staying in the condo, 3 adults and a 3 year old.

All of the actual beds are incredibly tall (I’m 5’1” and they come up past my waist) so I decided to sleep on the pullout bed with my 3 year old since I didn’t want him to fall out of one of the very tall beds. Imagine our surprise when the “sleeper sofa” is not a sleeper sofa at all. My son and I ended up sleeping on the floor instead.

In addition to the sleeper sofa issue, we also had no water at all when we first got in the place, and no hot water for showers in the morning. We called the “after hours” number with the water issues as directed in the information packet we were given (“For water, power, and locked out issues, please call the after hours maintenance number listed above. For any other concerns, please call the main number.”) and our call was met with a terrible attitude because we “should have called the main number” then the guy hung up on us.

We called the main number to explain and the lady said, “Well it should have been obvious to call the main number.” When we asked about the sleeper sofa, we were simply told, “Oh, well the owners must have switched it.” Fine, but then this is no longer a property that sleeps 8 adults with a sleeper sofa, so the listing needs to be changed and the price needs to be adjusted accordingly.

There is a note next to the inaccessible thermostat stating that it is equipped with an alarm if the temperature is adjusted. We had to turn on the water valve, then flip the breaker to turn on the hot water heater. $250 a night and they can’t even keep the water heater on?

For $1,000 for 4 days, we could have stayed in a nice hotel instead. Never in my life have I seen such cheap, penny pinching measures in a rental property.

Cheap quality. Inaccurate descriptions. Terrible customer service. There are much nicer accommodations in the area, do yourself a favor a pick...